Vehicles responding to outbreak get road priority, free pass

Vehicles carrying emergency supplies for novel coronavirus prevention and treatment, medical personnel and patients will be exempted from toll charges on expressways across provinces and given priority to travel, according to a circular issued by the Ministry of Transport on Saturday.

The exemption policy will ensure efficient and smooth emergency transportation of materials and personnel related to the prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic, which broke out in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, and has caused 41 deaths across the nation.

Provinces that need to carry out inter-regional emergency transport due to epidemic control and treatment can send the list of materials and personnel to the provincial Transportation Department where emergency transportation originated through the National Health Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and relevant provincial governments.

Transportation departments across the country were ordered to strengthen the work of protecting the expressway network. In circumstances where emergency transport vehicles encounter traffic jams on the highway, the departments shall actively coordinate with each other to ensure priority for the vehicles to get through.

All provincial transportation departments were asked to be well prepared for emergency transportation and strengthen the connection with the departments of Health, and Industry and Information Technology for timely understanding of the demands of transporting emergency supplies and personnel.